Police shoot dead subway hostage taker

Police marksmen shot dead a man who held a female security check officer hostage at Hujialou Subway Station around 10:20 pm Thursday, Beijing police announced on their official microblog.

Police received a call at 9:07 pm saying a man wielding a knife was holding a woman hostage. Police officers attempted to talk the suspect into giving up the woman for 70 minutes, and even offered to exchange an officer for the woman, but the man refused.

Police sharpshooters shot the suspect dead after he tried to injure the woman.

The hostage was uninjured, and police are continuing their investigation into the incident.

A witness at the station posted that at 11:30 pm, there were still around 20 police vehicles outside the station, and all the exits were closed.

A video posted online showing the closed station quickly spread, with many Web users commenting they were worried about their safety.